Charmed
by lillykleaf
Summary: Season 2 spoilers! Crack fic. After Marinette's birthday (episode 4) she goes out on patrol as Ladybug and silliness ensues.
1. Chapter 1

**I made this because I needed a little break while I figure out the direction for my other story, Miraculous Date. There might be more to this (I may or may not have already written another thousand words of this). We'll see how popular it is.**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

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Marinette stared up at the stars and sighed. In her hands, she fiddled with the yellow and pink good luck charm that Adrien had given her, admiring the way that it looked against her red and black gloved hand. It had been a great birthday, akuma aside, and she was still squealing inside over having received a present from Adrien. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts of the day, she barely heard Chat arrive.

"Good evening, M'lady, how are-what's that?" She could tell that wasn't what he'd meant to say by the sharpeninghe change of his tone.

She looked up to see his eyes zeroed in on the prize in her hands. She held it out for him to see. "This?"

His hand twitched , but he just nodded at her.

She didn't see any harm in being honest with him, but she still didn't want to give away too many details. "The person I like gave it to me earlier today."

"The person you like?" Chat choked on the last word.

She smiled dreamily. "Yeah."

"I- uh- I gotta go. Patrol you know. I have a lot of homework so if you could take that half, I'll take this one. Soyeahbye!"

Ladybug blinked, watching Chat take off without even waiting for her to reply. She wrapped the charm around her wrist like a bracelet and took off to do her own patrol.

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Adrien practically fell into his room before his transformation dropped. He was still in a shocked daze. If he'd been asked, he honestly couldn't tell you what he'd seen or done on patrol that night. He'd been running on autopilot after his conversation with Ladybug. Just thinking about it sent him reeling.

Plagg flew up into his face. "Are you even listening to me?"

Adrien blinked at him. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, I need camembert!" Plagg rolled his eyes at his chosen.

"Yeah, yeah. In the mini fridge. Help yourself."

Plagg phased into the fridge and came back out holding a large wedge of the smelly stuff. He began to noisily devour his prize . When he was done he belched ad flew over to where Adrien was still standing. "So, what did you think of what Ladybug said tonight," he said with a grin.

"I just- I'm still trying to wrap my head around it," Adrien said.

"I know, right?"

"Ladybug is in love with . . ." His voice drifted off, and he sat heavily on the floor.

"Whoa, there. Don't short circuit yourself there, kitten."

He looked up at the black god, despair potent in his eyes. "But, Plagg, what am I going to do? Ladybug is in love with Marinette!"

Plagg face-palmed. "Oh, you've got to be freakin kidding me."

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 **Let me know what you think and if you want to see what happens next!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness! I have never before received such a wonderful response to anything I've written, I'm so glad you guys like it ^-^ To say thank I wanted to post the next part early. Hope you like it!**

 **Real quick, let me just talk to the wonderful people who commented as guests:**

 **LemonzRInZeAir- I know! Every time I'm just like, "just kiss already!" And thank you, you're very kind**

 **Lilly- Yeah, that sunshine child is just a little special**

 **mikrolurker- well now you get to!**

 **To anyone I may have missed responding to. I'm sorry, it wasn't on purpose.**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug**

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The next day Adrien trudged up the steps to school with a heavy heart. He was going to have to see Marinette, the girl who stole his lady's heart, and he wasn't sure he could keep his emotions in check when he did. He was happy for her, for both of them, but it just hurt to have his hopes and dreams of a future with the person he'd been convinced to be his soulmate crushed. He was a little upset and confused as to why Marinette had given her birthday present away to Ladybug.

When he'd tried to talk to Plagg about it, he had exclaimed, "I can't deal with this!" and dove into his school bag, refusing to come out or respond to anything Adrien tried.

Then he saw her talking animatedly to Alya, and something strange caught his eye. Attached to the little side purse she always wore was the charm he'd given her. But hadn't Ladybug. . .

He walked up to her. "How did you get it back?"

Marinette screamed and turned around. "Adrien, hi. Talking, what?"

Alya covered her mouth to keep from laughing, but Adrien was too focused on Marinette to care. "Your charm. How did you get it back?"

Marinette's brow furrowed in confusion, and it seemed her concern was enough for her to finally get out a coherent sentence. "I never lost it. It hasn't left my side since you gave it to me."

"But I saw Ladybug with it last night!" Adrien exclaimed.

"You saw Ladybug!" Alya said, whipping out her phone to start interviewing him on the experience.

Adrien, however, was too busy watching Marinette turn pale and her eyes fill with panic. "N-

No you didn't. You must have been imagining things. Time what oh late going!"

She took off, but Adrien couldn't follow her to get more answers because Alya wasn't about to let him go without getting some of her own. He made up a story about how he thought he'd seen Ladybug near his house last night, but by the time he finally got free, the final warning bell was ringing, and they barely made it class on time. Which meant he couldn't talk to Marinette. That did not mean, however, that he was even slightly paying attention as he mulled over everything Ladybug had said last night and everything Marinette had said and done this morning.

Had Ladybug gone to visit Marinette that night and given the charm back? But she had acted like it was really important, so Adrien couldn't see her doing that. There was also the fact that Marinette had said the charm had never left her possession since he'd given it to her. Yet he had definitely seen Ladybug with his charm. He had made that by hand for Marinette and had been so proud of it. He would know that charm anywhere. Was Marinette lying to him? Was Ladybug?

But what reason did Ladybug have to lie about the charm? He had seen the look in her eyes; there was no way that anyone could fake that level of pure adoration and love. Adrien's head felt like it was going to explode as he tried to figure it all out.

Finally, his brain took pity on him and gave him a thought. A wonderful thought. An impossible thought that, if true, would make all his dreams a reality. The mere idea had him about ready to burst out of his seat and turn to Marinette to ask her if it was true. Just as his patience was about to burst though he was saved by, of all things, an akuma .

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 **Once again, thank you all so much for your warm welcome to this silliness of mine. It means a lot.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is the next chapter, because you are all awesome and amazing with the response that you've given me (and I might be using this to put off writing the next chapter to my Miraculous Date story because I hit writer's block with it)**

 **Anyway, on to the story!**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug**

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"Why did it have to be an akuma with a sword?" Ladybug shouted as she dodged another sword swipe.

"Don't worry My Lady, your fur-vorite knight will protect you," Chat said as he lunged forward to intercept and parry another sword swipe.

"Thanks Chat. On your left!"

Chat spun on his heel, staff out and caught the oncoming blade before it could hit. "Do you know what this one's story is?"

"Something about LARPers being banned from the park. That's what Officer Raincomprix said, anyway."

"Then I think it's a safe guess to say that the akuma is in his sword," Chat said.

"I'm going to guess you're right, Kitty."

"Don't you think it's about time you used Lucky Charm, My Lady?"

"On it. LUCKY CHARM!" A helmet fell from the sky into Ladybug's arms and she blinked at it. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Chat hummed in thought, "Maybe put it on?"

Ladybug looked around for whatever it was that helped her figure out how to use her magic tools then back at him. "I think you're right."

Both were distracted as the knight swung his broadsword once again, and this time Chat wasn't there to block it. "Marinette, duck!"

Ladybug did a full body flinch and then froze in place with her hands around the helmet she'd just slipped on. Chat saw a second of panicked surprise forming on her face and then the flat of the sword hit, sending her flying. She screamed and flew into a tree. Chat Noir snarled in rage and leapt at the akuma, catching it off guard and ripping the sword from it's hands. Then he rushed to his lady's side. She was already getting up, albeit a little wobbly.

"My lady, are you alright? I'm so sorry, the name just slipped out."

She glared at him and pointed to the sword. "Break it." Her voice was raspy and breathy like all the wind had been knocked out of it and she was still struggling to get it back.

"Right. Of course. CATACLYSM!" He dragged his claws, now coated in destructive energy, over the blade and it crumbled causing a dark butterfly to fly out.

She caught and cleansed the akuma then threw the helmet, with now had a crack in it from hitting the tree, up into the air while shouting, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!"

The magical swarm rushed around correcting all the damage that had occurred during the battle. Chat Noir turned to Ladybug with a grin. "Pound it!"

Ladybug ignored his fist and instead reached out to grab him by the bell and pull closer to her. Any wild, split-second fantasies that she was about to kiss him were dashed as he was met with her angry glare. "We need to have a talk, Chat Noir." She looked like she wanted to say more, but her miraculous beeped loudly and she gave a panicked glance around before taking off.

Chat shivered, Ladybug was furious. At him. He was so dead.

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 **And with that I bid you all adue for now, but keep it up with the amazing responce that you've all given me so far and the next chapter is waiting just around the corner.**


	4. Chapter 4

**You're all beautiful people. Thank you so much for all the love you've shown. Stay tuned below for info on somethings that I would like your opinions on because this story is finally complete! (maybe) This one's a bit longer than the others, but I couldn't really find a good point to break it up. Plus I was excited to finish!**

 **Just a quick not to those that commented that I couldn't reply to individually:**

 **Guest who reviewed Ch1- lols. I am sorry for your hot chocolate, but I did warn in the description that it was a crack fic :D**

 **Guest who reviewed Ch3- You are right, he did try hard. In her defense she doesn't know that yet though. For all she knows he followed her home one day like some stray cat. . .**

 **K, I think that was everyone.**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug**

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He slipped back into class seconds before Marinette. He had just barely resituated himself in his seat when the door burst open for Marinette to come tumbling in from her 'bathroom break'. He watched carefully as she apologized to the teacher, giving some excuse of a jammed stall door trapping her in there. The teacher waved, bored of Marinette's excuses at this point, and the girl returned to her seat.

As she did he got a good look at her face. Her eyes darted about the room from person to person. Her eyes afraid. She was trying to find him, he realized. Trying to see who had found out her secret. He wanted to reach out and tell her that it was him and that it was alright, but knew he couldn't. Not in front of all these people. There was also the matter of how furious she'd looked when she found out he knew. Adrien wasn't going to lie, it scared him. More than a little. After all this was the same girl who faced down supervillains and stood up to Chloe. Though she had never been able to talk to him for some reason. . .

A memory of last night flashed through him. "The person I like gave it to me earlier today."

His face flushed and the need to turn and face her, confront her now, intensified. School was agony. He barely made it through, but when it ended Marinette was gone before he could talk to her and then he was whisked off to photoshoots and lessons and the general madness that was his life. It was after sunset before he was able to get away from Nathalie and sequester himself away in the privacy of his room.

Plagg barely had the opportunity to come out for air before Adrien was shouting. "Claws out!"

The transformation was quick, but not nearly quick enough for Adrien's preferences. He did hesitate, however, before jumping out the window to swipe something out of his school bag. And then he was off. Flipping and racing off the rooftops of Paris to see his purr-incess.

She was ranting when he arrived. He could hear her before he'd even reached the balcony with his enhanced hearing. He could just make out a sweet falsetto voice that seemed to be trying to calm her down. All conversations stopped when his boots hit the wood of the balcony floor. Which was also the roof of Marinette's bedroom.

A second later and his favorite bluenette's face appeared, peeping out over the lip of the of the trapdoor entrance. He watched her face go from caution, to relief, to suspicion. "Chat Noir. What a pleasant surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure."

"You said you wanted to talk later. It's later, so let's talk," Chat said, weaving his fingers together and lacing them behind his head in feigned confidence.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, her face neutral.

Chat sighed. "I know you're Ladybug, and even if I didn't before I'm pretty sure I hear you talking to your kwami just now."

"You were spying on me?" she demanded, rising from the trap door with righteous indignation.

"No, no," he said hurriedly, bringing his hands forward, palms up in a peacemaking gesture. "I just have really good ears and you weren't exactly being quiet."

A blur of red whizzed up from the open trap door and came to a stop just in front of Marinette. Adrien saw a cute little red bug-like creature with black spots. She held her tiny paws out to Marinette to calm her. "He's right, Marinette. There's no need to take it out on him because we were careless."

Marinette sagged at the kwami's words and turned to him with a defeated look. "How did you figure out it was me?"

He grinned and held out the thing he'd snagged before leaving his room. "I'll give you a clue. You charmed me so thoroughly, how could I not notice?"

She stepped forward to examine the green and red object in his hand in the darkening light and then frowned at him. "I gave this to Adrien. How did you get it?"

His grin widened, and he parroted to her the same words she'd said to him last night. "The person I like gave it to me."

She frowned and looked from it to him and back again. "So you were flirting with Ladybug to hide your crush on Adrien?"

Chat Noir facepalmed and groaned, "No, I do not have a crush on Adrien." He frowned and then muttered under his breath. "Right now, I don't even like him."

"Hey!" Marinette said angrily, having obviously heard him. "Don't you dare talk about Adrien like that. He is the kindest, sweetest, most wonderful, amazing-"

He couldn't take it anymore, he dropped his transformation and the rest of whatever Marinette had been about to say was swallowed up in a shriek. She jumped backwards, and would have fallen into the hole of the still open trapdoor is Adrien hadn't leapt forward and caught her. They stared at each other, wide-eyed and panting after the recent shock and scare.

Adrien flashed her a strained, too-wide, almost Chat-like smile as he tried to break the ice. "Do go on, purr-incess. I believe you were talking about how I was your most fur-vorite person in the whole world."

Marinette's eyes rolled up in the back of her head and she went limp. Adrien looked around in a panic to the two kwami's floating above him. "What do I do? She just fainted!"

Plagg only cackled, "Well, it looks like you've finally made Ladybug fall for you."

* * *

 **And that's all folks!**

 **Well, if you would like for me to do another chapter of what just happened from Marinette's prospective I can do that. Maybe even with a bit of epilogue picking up from whenever she wakes up? :D**

 **Also, anybody here like Aida? I was thinking of doing a fanfic based loosely off the musical, but it would probably have a lot of OC's in it and I'm not sure how you all would feel about that. Toying with the idea of making it a story of how Tikki and Plagg got their names. . . For those of you following my other story, don't worry, I'll finish that one before I start this one.**

 **I'd love to hear you opinions so please comment down below.**

 **Love,**

 **lillykleaf**


	5. Chapter 4- Marinette POV

**Here is chapter 4 from Marinette's perspective. Epilogue to follow. Thanks again for all your love and support with this silly story of mine.**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug**

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Marinette was furious. She was also terrified. And freaking out. Tikki had to talk her out of the alleyway she'd de-transformed in and coax her into going back to class. Once there, she glared at everyone suspiciously. Chat knew her name. As much as she dreamed of being someone famous, one day she was under no illusions that she was not. At least, not outside the suit.

That meant that for Chat to know her meant one of two things. Either he had followed her for a while after finding out who she was, or he was someone she already knew. Tikki also pointed out that Chat had spent most of the day trying to protect her not that long ago, but Marinette was sure it had to be one of her ideas.

Alya had watched her with increasing concern as she glared suspiciously at everyone in the room. Was one of them Chat? Had Chat told one of them? If Chat figured it out, then who else had? HOW DID HE FIGURE IT OUT?!

Thoughts chased themselves endlessly around in her head for the entire school day, and she only managed halfhearted responses to Alya's constant questions on her mental state. As soon as the final bell rang, she ran. Ran fast and hard, booking it out of the building and across the street to her home. She gave a rushed excuse to her parents about tons of homework and no time before she barricaded herself away in her room. Tikki flew out as soon as Marinette shut her bedroom trap door.

"Marinette, I-"

"Tikki, what am I going to do?"

"Well, I think-"

"How am I supposed to face Chat again after this?"

"If you would just-"

"What if he's disappointed in me? What if he gives up being Chat Noir because he never wants to see me again? And then, he gets akumatized because he's so disgusted at who I am. Then I would have to fight Chat Noir. I can't fight Chat Noir; we're partners! I mean, I guess I've done it before, but it's different when someone is doing it because they're under the influence of an akuma victim verses being the akuma victim themselves. What if he tells someone? What if that person tells someone? What if everyone that finds out I'm Ladybug gets akumtized because they're so disappointed in me. What if-"

Her next words were muffled when Tikki grabbed a cookie from her emergency stash and shoved it in her mouth, effectively silencing her chosen. Tikki then flew up into her face so they were looking in each other in the eyes. "Calm. Down."

Marinette swallowed her cookie and meekly nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Tikki continued to stare her down for a second before nodding in satisfaction. "Good. Now, worrying won't do any good, so let's set it aside and you do your homework."

"But-" Marinette began.

"No buts. You need to calm down, and to do that you need to focus on something else for a while. Then, we can talk about what to do."

Marinette nodded begrudgingly and pulled out her tablet to start on homework. It was hard to concentrate, and she frequently tried to divert back to the previous conversation. Tikki now raised a cookie threateningly any time Marinette opened her mouth. Eventually though, she was able to fully turn her mind to her homework as the struggle of physics demanded her full attention.

By the time she was done, darkness had fallen, and her mother had left her a plate of dinner, not wanting to interrupt her daughter's concentration (that was saved for when she brought boys over). Marinette answered her last problem and pushed her laptop away with a groan. "Finished."

Tikki flew up to her, nodding her head approvingly. "Very good, Marinette. How do you feel?"

"Better," Marinette admitted. "Still nervous, but I'm not freaking out."

"Good. Now, let's talk about what you're going to do next time you see Chat Noir."

Marinette pulled at one of her pigtails as she thought. "While it's very tempting to just say I'll avoid talking to him so I never have to deal with this, that would cause problems with our teamwork which in turn could endanger Paris."

The kwami nodded at her encouragingly. "Very wise. So what will you do?"

Marinette groaned and let her head hit the desk. "I guess I'll just have to talk to him. Find out what mistake I made that gave me away, so I can know what not to do so no one else finds out. And hope and pray that he's not too disappointed to find out it's me under the mask."

"Of course he won't be. A mask is what makes Marinette amazing. Marinette is what makes the mask amazing. Ladybug wouldn't be half the superhero she is if it wasn't you under the mask."

Marinette felt tears come to her eyes at the sweet words of her kwami. They hugged- well Tikki snuggled up against Marinette's cheek while the girl cupped her hand over the diminutive creature's form, but it was as close as they could get with the size difference. Inevitably though, Marinette's Marinette-isms started to surface once more.

"Tikki, what if he didn't know it was me and my reaction is what gave it away? What if he just decided to start shouting random girl's names to see if I'd react, and he just happened to get it right?"

Tikki sighed. "Marinette-"

"But if he didn't know it was me, do you think I could convince him that I just reacted because I know Marinette. Then my identity would still be safe and no one would need to know it's me. Tikki, this could be the solution!"

"Marinette, I thought we already had a plan, and from the way he acted, I'm pretty sure he wasn't just shouting random girls' names."

"But he might have, and it's worth a shot, don't you think?"

Whatever Tikki's response was, it was drowned out by something thumping onto the terrace above her bedroom. Both froze and looked at each other wide-eyed. Carefully, Marinette made her way over to the stairs leading up to the roof trap door, while Tikki flew off to hide. When she opened the door, she found none other than Chat Noir waiting for her. At least it wasn't an akuma, but what was he doing here? His face fell in shadows, so she couldn't read his expression.

"Chat Noir. What a pleasant surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

His hands went to rest behind his head in a practiced devil-may-care stance. "You said you wanted to talk later. It's later, so let's talk."

Her most recent rant with Tikki came to mind, and she figured it was worth a shot to feign ignorance. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Chat sighed, and his hands went from behind to head to on his hips. "I know you're Ladybug, and even if I didn't before, I'm pretty sure I heard you talking to your kwami just now."

Anger overshadowed any fear she felt, and she rose the rest of the way up the ladder to face him. "You were spying on me?"

"No, no," he said hurriedly, palms up in a peacemaking gesture. "I just have really good ears, and you weren't exactly being quiet."

Before she could retort, Tikki took action and flew out of hiding to hover in front on Marinette. "He's right, Marinette. There's no need to take it out on him because we were careless."

Defeat hit her like a physical blow, and she felt her shoulders droop as she turned to face her partner once more. It was time to bite the bullet and get this over with. "How did you figure out it was me?"

His teeth flashed in the light coming up from her open trap door, and he held out his hand palm up to her with something in it. "I'll give you a clue. You charmed me so thoroughly, how could I not notice?"

She ignored his flirt in favor of examining the item in his hand. She recognized it immediately, but how in the world did Chat Noir end up with it? "I gave this to Adrien. How did you get it?"

His grin widened. "The person I like gave it to me." Marinette recognized them as the same words she had said to him before patrol last night. But her brain still didn't compute.

A frown tugged at her lips as she looked between it and Chat's face. "So, you were flirting with Ladybug to hide your crush on Adrien?"

He facepalmed and groaned. "No, I do not have a crush on Adrien." He pouted, and Marinette only barely caught what he said next. "Right now, I don't even like him."

Marinette's temper flared once more. "Hey! Don't you dare talk about Adrien like that. He is the kindest, sweetest, most wonderful, amazing-"

Chat Noir cut her off with a flash of light, and shock kept her from looking away or continuing with her tirade, because standing before her was none other than ADRIEN. FREAKING. AGREST! She screamed and jumped backwards. Unfortunately, there was nothing there, and her arms started to pinwheel as she tried to regain her balance before she fell down the hole of the trap door. Adrien lunged forward and grabbed her about the middle, pulling her towards him until their chests were pressed together. Marinette's brain nearly short-circuited at the close contact to her long-time crush.

He flashed her a smile that was nothing like his usual demure, polite ones and would have looked for more in place if she slapped some black over his eyes. "Do go on, purr-incess. I believe you were talking about how I was your most fur-vorite person in the whole world."

Nope. Done. Died. Gone. Does not compute. Mairnette felt the beginnings of a panic attack, and then her eyes started to tunnel vision, right before everything slipped away completely.

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 **More to come, just as soon as I write it. . .**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you all so much for your kind words and support! I've never had such a good response for anything I've written before and I'm truly touched and honored. Here is the Epilogue which is brought to you in two parts- pt 1 is later that night and pt 2- (coming soon) is the next day.**

 **Guest 1- I think I did an okay job at keeping it from being too "I'm too plain/you only like Ladybug"**

 **Guest 2- No, Marinette cannot compute XD**

 **Guest 3- Yes, Tikki is the mature one and Marinette is freaking out. I'm sorry that I don't really have a lot of Plagg in this chapter.**

 **Guest 4- I'm sorry you don't like rewinds, but that was done by popular request. Sooo sorry/not sorry. I can tell you that this one and the next one are not rewinds and I have no plans on doing it again this chapter.**

 **Demi clayton- Thank you, I'm glad that you like it. It is almost done for real now.**

 **I own nothing Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Marinette came around to the sound of voices.

"Are you sure we did it right?" That was Chat's voice.

"Absolutely. I've been around since medicine began. If she's pale, raise the tail. If she's red, raise the head." That was definitely Tikki's voice.

"You were also alive back when people thought snake venom and mud were magic cures for everything. Are you sure you're remembering current medicine?" That was a voice she didn't recognize at all. It was reedy and high and sounded from somewhere above her.

What was it doing here? What was she doing here? What were Tikki and Chat Noir doing here? The thought of Tikki and Chat Noir triggered her memories, and she sat up with a gasp-

Only to immediately bonk heads with someone who'd been hovering over her. Both groaned and backed away from each other, and when Marinette opened her eyes once more, she saw Adrien Agreste rubbing his forehead.

"My lady, I knew you could be hard-headed, but I didn't think quite so literally," Adrien said as he smirked at her in a very Chat-like way.

"Mph!" Marinette choked on her own words. She wasn't even sure what it was that she wanted to say. There was no freaking way any of this could be real.

Adrien saw her starting to slip into a panic again and reached out to put his hands on her shoulders. "Careful there. You only just woke up. We wouldn't want you fainting again."

Marinette groaned and sat the rest of the way up, noting that her feet had been propped up with the pillow from her lounge chair on the deck.

"What's wrong? Do you have a headache?" Adrien hovered beside her ready assist at a moment's notice.

"I fainted. Could I be any more lame?"

Adrien chuckled. "I thought it was adorable, after I got over my initial heart attack."

Marinette felt her cheeks heat up. "I- you- thanks."

Adrien raised an eyebrow. "Why do you do that?"

"What doing? Wrong nothing. You're fine. I mean, I'm fine!" She pulled her legs up to her chest and buried her head between her knees.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him purse his lips and tap his chin as he thought. "If you can't talk to me when I'm Adrien then- Claws out!"

Plagg let out a whiny "Noooo!" and was sucked into the ring. Marinette raised her eyes to watch the flash of green and the transformation overtake Adrien to leave a Chat Noir in his place.

He kneeled so they were at eye level. "Come on, Mari, it's just Chat. You've always been able to talk to Chat."

Marinette raised an eyebrow at him. "Just Chat?" she said dryly.

His grin widened, and he reached down a hand to help her up. "But you can talk to Chat."

He had a point.

Tikki appeared just over Chat's shoulder and gave her an encouraging nod. Marinette took his hand. "Well then, I guess I'll show you my trick since you showed me yours. Tikki, spots on."

She closed her eyes, enjoying the rush of magic as it came over her. When she opened her eyes again she saw Adrien gapping at her in wonder. "Beautiful," he whispered.

Marinette blushed and looked down, staring at her gloved hands. "So, you were going to tell me how you found out."

"Last patrol, you had the lucky charm that I gave Marinette, you, for your birthday," Adrien explained.

Marinette facepalmed. "And you're Adrien- And I said- Oh my gosh, I'm such an idiot."

He grinned. "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't get it right away."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "What did you first think?"

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Remember how right before I released my transformation you thought I had a crush on Adrien? Same thing, but reversed."

"You thought I. . . with Ladybug?" she doubled over laughing, gripping her sides as she did so.

"It's not that funny!" he said defensively.

"Probably not," she said once she calmed down enough to speak, though the occasional giggle still slipped through. "But right now my only options are to laugh or have a complete mental breakdown."

He winced, feeling a stab to the heart at her words. "Didn't know you hated the idea that much."

She snorted, still a little to hysterical to catch the hurt in his tone. "Hardly, my second best friend and my long time crush are one and the same. My life just got a million times easier and a thousand times harder."

And just as quickly as it had been stabbed, his heart was now healed and floating on cloud nine. "Only second best friend? Bugaboo, I'm hurt."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "You wanna fight Alya for the position."

He winced and held up both hands. "No thank you. Let's go back to where you called me your 'long time crush'. I liked that."

Her face turned the same color of her suit, but he managed to stare her down defiantly as she said, "Yes, I like you, Chat Noir, Adrien Agreste." Her tone seemed to carry an unspoken, sassy, "Do you have a problem with that?".

His heart slammed in his chest. "I like you too."

Her arms began to flail, and inarticulate sounds came out. Aww, he'd broken her. How adorable! He laughed. "Cat got your tongue?"

She snapped to attention and glared at him. "Can it, Kitty."

He couldn't decide which side of her he liked more- blushing, stuttering Marinette, or confident, collected Marinette. Why choose when he didn't have to? They were both the same girl after all. Fabulously, miraculously, one and the same. "Hey, how come you could never talk to Adrien, but you've never had a problem with Chat Noir?"

She blushed once more and looked at the ground, shaking her head to let him know she wouldn't answer this one.

"Aww, come on. Purrrtty please, purrincess?"

She wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at him. "No. It's late. We should both go to bed."

"Just answer this one last question, and then I'll leave."

She shook her head again.

"Why not?"

"Because it's embarrassing, and now that I know you're the same person I'm kind of ashamed of it."

Now he really had to know. And he knew just how to get her to talk. "Purrincess, if you don't tell me, I'll sit outside your window all night telling baking puns."

Her face paled. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, I think you'll find I am more than capable of _rising_ to the occasion."

"Chat, no."

"I think you know that my threats aren't _half baked_."

"I will hit you."

"What's life without a little _whisk_?"

"Why?!"

"You know I'm a weir- _dough_."

"You bake me crazy," she said. There was a heartbeat of silence, then two and her eyes widened as she realized what she said. "MAKE! MAKE! I MEANT MAKE!"

"Too late Bugaboo, we're on a _roll_."

"Chat Noir, you stop this nonsense coming out of Adrien Agreste's perfect mouth or so help me I'll-"

"You'll what? I got all the _thyme_ in the world to wait for you're answer. _Donut_ underestimate this cat."

Suddenly, she grabbed his face in both her hands and slammed his mouth on hers. Their teeth clicked from the force of it, and Adrien was pretty sure he had whiplash from how quickly she'd moved, but that didn't stop his heart from nearly exploding with happiness. When they pulled apart, she tried to give him a serious face, but he could see she was blushing too. "Shut. Up."

"Just answer the question, and I will." Chat grabbed her to keep her from moving too far. Their faces were so close, and he could feel her shiver as she felt his breath ghost across where his lips had just been. He knew because her breath had just done the exact same thing to him. His brain was too scattered to even think of a pun for a come back.

She took a shaky breath and closed her eyes. When she started talking, he almost didn't understand her because of how fast she was going. "I couldn't talk to Adrien because in my eyes he was this perfectly unattainable being, but Chat was easy to talk to because the fact that he so obviously liked and trusted me gave me confidence, plus his puns just make him too ridiculous to take too seriously, and now you're the same person and I rejected my crush for my crush and I feel guilty because you're life has already had way too many hardships and I think I made it harder with my actions as Ladybug and basically I'm a terrible person so I'm just going to go crawl in a hole and die of embarrassment now."

With that she wrenched herself free from his grasp, which wasn't hard in his stunned state, and threw herself down the open trapdoor to her bedroom, slamming it shut behind her. He stood there for several breaths, arms still stretched out to hold her, until his brain finally processed all of her words and he dropped down to start knocking frantically on the trapdoor.

"Princess, open up." Nothing. "Come on, Marinette, let me in." Nothing. "Please. I think we really need to talk about what you just said."

"You said if I answered the question you'd go away. So go away now, Chat."

"But Marinette!"

Tikki flew up through the trapdoor and held one tiny paw to her mouth to silence the cat-teen. "Marinette's not going to come out right now. It would be best to give her some space."

"But I-"

"Look, she just needs time to process. In the meantime, why don't you go home and try to think of ways you can help Marinette reconcile the fact that Chat Noir and Adrien Agreste are one and the same. I'm sure that given time the two of you will get _along purrrfectly_ again."

"Did you just. . . " His eyes widened as he realized what she was hinting at. He knew what he had to do now. What a clever bug Tikki was!

She winked at him. "Well, that's all I have to say. I'm sure you know what to do. Get some sleep, Adrien. Tomorrow is a big day." With that, she disappeared back into Marinette's room through the trapdoor she'd just come through.

Adrien let her go without complaint. Afterall, she'd just given him the perfect idea for how to help Marinette overcome her nervousness. And if the results were going to be anything like last time, he couldn't wait!

* * *

 **I am so proud of my puns in this chapter! I'm doing unnecessary amounts of "research" to prepare for the next chapter. I hope it will be as amazing in real life as it is in my head right now. . .**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay. This is the last chapter. For real this time! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! Just some quick notes to all the guests who have commented since my last post that I couldn't respond to individually:**

 **Demi clayton- You're so kind. Thank you so much.**

 **mikrolurker- yeahhhh. It was done and then I had an idea for follow up and was to lazy to change it back to unfinished. This really is the last one this time though...**

 **Guest- Yeah, she just might have encouraged him and it may or may not come back to bite her in this chapter... 3:)**

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A sleep deprived Marinette stumbled into class the next day, only slightly calmer than she had been last night. Tikki had dragged her out of bed and made sure she wasn't late. Since she was used to rushing out the door several minutes behind, she'd actually managed to arrive a few minutes early. She could have cried tears of joy when she saw Alya sitting at their shared desk with a cup of coffee in her hands.

"You are a saint," Marinette said, accepting the cup from her and immediately taking a gulp.

"Oh, don't thank me," Alya said with a smirk. "I'm not the one who brought it to you."

"Then who-" then she saw the note and choked.

Love you a latte!

Alya grinned. "Girl, you will never guess who brought that for you!"

"Adrien!" she hissed.

The blond sitting in front of her turned his stupid, angelic face to stare up at her innocently. "Can I help you?"

Before she could answer his question, Alya grabbed her arm and hissed in her ear. "How did you know it was Adrien?"

Adrien grinned and answered for her. "I had an interesting conversation with Marinette last night."

The grip on Marinette's arm tightened. She was in so much trouble. "And just when and where did you talk?"

"Oh, it was a text. I meant to text Nino about something, but accidentally hit Marinette's number instead," Adrien said. Marinette was impressed with his ability to lie through his teeth. She was still going to kick his butt from here to the Eiffel tower the next time Ladybug got her hands on him.

Nino spoke up then. "Dude, how did you get my name mixed up with Marinette's?"

Adrien looked at him sheepishly and opened his phone for Nino to see. "She's right next to you in my contact list."

Nino took his phone. "Dude, you have like no one in your phone. What's up with that?"

Adrien scratched the back of his head in an embarrassed fashion. "I told you I didn't have many friends before I came here, so I never really had anyone besides Nathalie and my chauffer in my phone until now."

An awkward silence filled the group, spreading to the rest of the classroom of students who were doing a poor job of hiding their eavesdropping.

"Anyway," Adrien said, breaking the awkward silence, "I sent the text to Marinette instead of Nino and we got to talking. She said some interesting things."

Alya looked like she was about to explode from trying to contain herself. "And just what did my girl say to you?"

"Don't!" Marinette said, not sure who she was saying it to, but sure that if the conversation continued she would die of embarrassment.

"Make me, Princess," Adrien said, with his best Chat Noir grin.

The whole class gasped. Nino and Alya looked between their two friends with their mouths hanging open, but before anyone could fully register what had happened the bell rang, and Madame B. walked in bringing the class to order. There was a tension in the air the whole day. Marinette felt eyes on her from all around the room. Two pairs of eyes stared with greater intensity than any others. The first was Chloe, her gaze bore into her with an intensity that made Marinette want to touch her side, just to make sure the blond hadn't glared a hole into her. Alya was the other one, staring daggers at Marinette as she kept trying to pass notes to her throughout class. Marinette studiously slipped into her backpack without a second look, pretending to be focused on the lesson.

Then there was Adrien. He wasn't looking at her, which was a mercy, but his every action seemed to be trying to draw her attention. Like when he yawned and gave a stretch that looked suspiciously like a muscle flex, or when he would run his hands through his hair and give it a distinctly more Chat-like appearance. Marinette dreaded lunch and wondered if she could excuse herself early and slip out the bathroom window as Ladybug. That would save her from Alya, but the Cat would still find her.

She didn't get the chance. Before she could make up her mind, the bell rang. Adrien popped up out of his seat and turned to face her, "Well, Princess, would you join me to go eat? I've got a _lunch_ that we have a lot to talk about."

"I- uh- Going out Alya with," Marinette floundered, looking at her best friend for help.

"She means she was going to have lunch with me and would love it if you could make it a double date," Alya said, reattaching herself to Marinette's arm as Chloe watched it all unfold, looking ready to breathe fire.

"That sounds _mint_ to be," Adrien said, grinning when he saw Marinette's eye twitch.

"Dude, are you food punning?" Nino said.

"Is there another _cat_ -agory you would rather I use?" Adrien asked.

Marinette thumped her head of the desk, while she hissed, "Stupid cat!"

"What was that? _Mew_ didn't hear you."

"Nothing. Nothing. I – GAH!" She flailed backwards when she raised her head and saw that Adrien had very much invaded her personal.

"Funny, that's not what you said last night, Purrincess."

"And just what did she say last night?" Alya demanded, looking between the two with growing incredulity.

"If I remember right, she said-"

"You bake me crazy," Marinette blurted. Still aware of the room full of curious classmates.

Adrien's grin widened. "Well yes, you did say that, but that's not all you said. In fact, I distinctly remember-"

"Have a macaroon," Marinette said, taking one out of her bag where she kept spares for Tikki and shoving it in his mouth. Her mind was short circuiting and giving her the urge to flick her Kitty on the nose for being such a total dork.

"Thank you," he said once he'd swallowed and then spoke in a much lower voice, making it harder for everyone else eaves dropping. "I'd love to mack on you."

"WHAT?" Alya shrieked, the only one close enough to have heard besides Marinette.

"I said I'd love a macaroon," Adrien told her, his face the picture of angelic innocence.

"That wasn't- I heard-"

"You're un- _bee_ -lievable," Marinette snapped at him, her annoyance finally helping her find her courage.

"Ooo. Was that one on _porpoise_?" Adrien asked.

" _Toucan_ play at this game," Mairnette shot back.

"Are you _fur_ -real?"

She leaned in and flicked his chest where his bell would be if he was wearing his suit. "Do I look like I'm _kitten_?"

"I could win with my _bear_ hands," Adrien said, leaning in towards her.

"If you think you can win this you're _otter_ your mind," Marinette said, standing her ground

"You're _toad-_ ally out of your league here." His eyes sparkled with delight and something else that Marinette couldn't quite decipher. Whatever it was, it made her stomach flip with of anticipation the closer he got.

"You're right, my _koala-_ fications put me way above you." She winced a little inside, because she didn't like belittling her Kitty- he did that enough to himself- but he'd started this, and gosh darnit she was going to finish this and come out on top.

"That's the _seal_ -iest thing I've ever heard."

"It's ir- _elephant_ because I'm winning."

"Well this is _hawk-_ ward, I believe you are _hiss_ -taken," Adrien said. It had become a game of chicken as he came closer and closer while she stood her ground.

"Im- _paws-_ ible!"

"You're _giraffe_ ing me crazy,"he whispered, close enough now that she could feel his warm breath on her face.

" _Cat_ you just give up?" Marinette said with exasperation. She was hungry and tired and his stupid, perfect face was way too close. Also, she was running out of puns.

" _Ewe_ know what I'm looking for." His eyes drifted down to the lower part of her face.

Her heart was going into overdrive, but she wasn't fainting this time and when she moved the last few centimeters to bridge the gap between them it was a deliberate, conscious action. His arms immediately went around her waist, to keep her from running away. Which was probably a good thing because the moment their lips made contact the room exploded into pandemonium. Oh yeah, there were other people.

They pulled apart and looked around to see that most of the class was celebrating (Chloe aside). Alix had her hand out to Kim. "You lost. Pay up."

He grumbled and shoved a fistful of bills into her hand.

The rest of the class was either doing that or cheering and clapping. Alya was squeezing the life out Nino as she jumped up and down squealing. They turned to look at each other.

"Hey Mari," Adrien said. " _Tulips_ are better than one."

"Shut up, Kitty," she whispered, getting lost in his eyes again.

"Yes, My Lady." And he kissed her again.

* * *

 **Thank you all for reading this. I do have some other works if you'd like to go read those. You've been so kind.**


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